Treat Your Feet

Foot, ankle and lower leg pain can be very common. Plantar fasciitis, bunions, ankle sprains, calf and achilles issues and shin splints are all linked to foot health. In this blog, we’ll share some simple strategies to treat your feet.

How would you feel if you were wrapped up in something that barely let you move and kept you in one position all day?

Not great right, sounds terrible. That’s how most of us treat our feet on a daily basis. Jam our feet into shoes when we leave for the day and leave them on until we get home at night. Some of us even keep shoes on pretty much all the time.

Shoes and Orthotics: The Dark Side

Super supportive shoes and orthotics have their place, but wearing them too often can turn into a vicious cycle.

My feet hurt from standing all day.

Ok, wear these cushy shoes with orthotics.

Now my feet hurt whenever I go barefoot.

Ok, going barefoot is bad, you need more support. Get some new shoes and get fitted for custom orthotics.

Again and again until the end of time...

Here’s a better approach.

My feet hurt from standing all day.

Ok, let’s get your feet out of those shoes, move around barefoot and use your feet like they are meant to be used.

Vicious cycle stopped dead in its tracks. Healthier feet for life, better lower body strength, balance, performance, etc.

We simply don’t subscribe to the narrative that we all need to wear super high tech shoes to “support” our feet throughout the day.

Sure, if you have a job where you are doing manual labor and/or on your feel all day, it can make sense to wear more supportive shoes, but we need to make sure we aren’t letting external supports do the job that our feet were naturally designed for.

Our feet have evolved over the years to be amazing structures for absorbing and trasmitting force. Your new sneakers aren’t going to work as well as a pair of healthy feet, no matter how much they cost.

Healthy Feet Are Happy Feet

We all need to wear shoes, but here are a few strategies we like to use to keep feet healthy and functioning well.

Why You Should Be Barefoot…At Least Occasionally

At least walk around your home without shoes on when you can. This gets those small muscles in your feet working the way they are suppposed to. Also spend some time outside walking barefoot if you can. Sand, grass, dirt, etc. give your feet a rich sensory experience and help improve their strength.

Like anything else, start slow, but don’t keep your feet trapped in shoes all day.

Foot and Ankle Mobility Exercises

Get your toes, feet and ankles moving, especially after they have been in shoes all day.

Here are a few things we like to do on a regular basis:

1. Roll out the bottom of your feet. Use a lacrosse ball, tennis ball, even golf ball. Don’t mash your feet too hard, just move your feet and toes around while rolling the bottom of your foot.

2. Play with your toes. Use your hands to flex, extend your toes and spread them apart.

3. Get your ankle and big toe moving. These are two areas that tend to get stiff after long periods in shoes.

Mobilize your ankle by standing or kneeing and driving your knee out over your toes. Keep your heel down.

Mobilize your toes in a similar way. Here the heel is coming up and I’m focusing on getting my toes into extension.

Hold for a few seconds each, 5-10 reps is probably enough.

How To Strengthen Your Feet

Pick stuff up with your toes to work on strength and dexterity.

Work on increasing the strength of the arch of your foot by doing the short foot exercise.

With your feet on the ground, try to bring the ball of your foot and heel closer together without clawing your toes. This one is tough, but it is good practice.

The short foot exercises is a simple (but not easy) way to improve foot strength and stability. This will improve balance, decrease pain and prevent issues like plantar fasciitis.

Be Fabulous, But Be Nice To Your Feet

If the occasion for something like high heels comes up, enjoy wearing them, looking good and being fabulous.

But afterwards, give your feet some love by doing some of the exercises above. And please, if you are someone who wears high heels frequently, make regular foot care part of your routine. Your feet will thank you.

Here’s a quick video of all the exercises above.

Try this simple sequence of exercises to decreased foot pain and improve overall foot health. These can be especially good if you’ve spent all day in restrictive shoes.

Foot and Ankle Rehab in Lakeville Massachusetts

If you need some treatment for foot, ankle or lower leg pain, we would love to help! Check out our website HERE for more information and to book a free discovery call